FIG. 1 illustrates a heterogeneous network wireless communications system 100 including a macro base station and a micro base station. In the description of the present invention, the term “heterogeneous network” refers to a network wherein a macro base station 110 and a micro base station 121 and 122 co-exist even when the same RAT (Radio Access Technology) is being used.
A macro base station 110 refers to a general base station of a wireless communication system having a broad coverage range and a high transmission power. Herein, the macro base station 110 may also be referred to a macro cell.
The micro base station 121 and 122 may also be referred to as a micro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, a home eNB (HeNB), a relay, and so on. More specifically, the micro base station 121 and 122 corresponds to a small-sized version of the macro base station 110. Accordingly, the micro base station 121 and 122 may independently perform most of the functions of the macro base station. Herein, the micro base station 121 and 122 may correspond to an overlay base station, which may be installed in an area covered by the macro base station, or to a non-overlay base station, which may be installed in a shadow area that cannot be covered by the macro base station. As compared to the macro base station 110, the micro base station 121 and 122 has a narrower coverage range and a lower transmission power and may accommodate a smaller number of terminals (or user equipments).
A terminal 131 may directly receive services from the macro base station 110 (hereinafter referred to as a macro-terminal). And, alternatively, a terminal 132 may directly receive services from the micro base station 122 (hereinafter referred to as a micro-terminal). In some cases, a terminal 132 existing within the coverage area of the micro base station 122 may receive services from the macro base station 110.
Depending upon whether or not the terminal has limited access, the micro base station may be categorized into two different types, the first type being a CSG (Closed Subscriber Group) micro base station, and the second type being an OA (Open Access) or OSC (Open Subscriber Group) micro base station. More specifically, the CSG micro base station may serve only specific terminals that are authorized, and the OSG micro base station may serve all types of terminals without any particular access limitations.
Meanwhile, the quality of a radio link between an eNB and a UE may be degraded due to various factors. When the UE fails to receive a control signal from the eNB or the quality of a received signal is significantly degraded, this may be defined as a Radio Link Failure (RLF). To handle the RLF, the UE first identifies a problem at a physical layer and attempts to solve the physical layer problem. If the UE fails to recover from the physical layer problem, the UE may transmit a connection re-establishment request to the eNB, determining that an RLF has been detected.